SCHOOL DISTRICT DESEGREGATION AND ITS IMPACT IN
KALAMAZOO, MI
By: Matt D’Avanzo
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Introduction
Though it would seem impossible to create a universal definition of what ingredients are
required to create the “perfect” school, experts in the field of education typically agree upon four
elements. (Kaufman, 2009). These include a faculty made up of capable and effective teachers,
relatively small classrooms with tight student to teacher ratios, a large amount of community and
parent support and a diverse student body. Id. While it can be argued that the first three
ingredients listed above are issues related to funding for our schools, or lack thereof, the
implementation of the final element has posed an interesting challenge for our nation‟s school
districts over the years. It is almost universally agreed upon that children benefit immensely from
a diverse learning environment, allowing them to develop socially with students of varying
backgrounds. (Kaufman, 2009). It was also decided decades ago that the practice of legally
and/or forcibly allowing for segregated learning in our country‟s schools is fundamentally
unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). These principles are well
known and it would be hard to find someone who could provide a reasonable argument against
them.
However, the enforcement of these principles has not always been easy for our country‟s
courts and school districts. School attendance zones are frequently drawn up based on where
students live within the community, and history shows that people tend to live in neighborhoods
with people who are similar to them. The question for school boards becomes what methods can
legally be used to ensure that no segregation is taking place and what consequences will result
from them? Several cities, such as Kalamazoo, Michigan, were forced to make difficult decisions
in the 1970‟s to ensure that racial balance occurred in their classrooms. The choices that the
Kalamazoo Board of Education were forced to make demonstrated the dilemma that schools and
cities faced when they had to weigh the benefits of providing equal educational opportunities to
all their students against the possible social consequence of seeing a decrease in their enrollment.
Only recently, through an unbelievably generous gift by an anonymous donor, have the
Kalamazoo Public Schools begun to show signs of overcoming the consequences of their actions.
However, had Kalamazoo failed to make those decisions they not only would have been acting in
violation of the U.S. Constitution, they also would have allowed fiscal concerns and social
pressure to deny the children in their community the chance at achieving the “perfect” classroom
experience. Despite the negative consequences, the Kalamazoo Public School Board‟s actions
were a legal and effective way to ensure racial balance in their schools.
Constitutional Requirements for Equal Educational Opportunities
As previously stated, the Supreme Court put an end to statutes and policy that classified
and separated students based solely on their race in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of
Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). In making its ruling on the doctrine of “separate but equal” in
school settings, the Court chose to ignore making comparisons of “tangible” differences between
white and colored schools, such as the physical state of the school and facilities available.
Instead they chose to focus on the intangible effect of segregation itself on public education. Id.
at 492. The Court stated that segregation of students based solely on their race was detrimental
to the colored students, and that it “generates a feeling of inferiority.” Id. at 493. The Court held
that separate but equal was “inherently unequal” and that it deprived equal protection of the laws
guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Id.
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After Brown, the next school segregation issue was whether or not local school district‟s
desegregation plans were effective and reasonable. The Supreme Court addressed this issue in
the case of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971). In giving
guidance as to what could be considered when viewing desegregation plans, the Court stated,
“policy and practice with regard to faculty, staff, transportation, extracurricular activities, and
facilities are among the most important indicia of a segregated system, and the first remedial
responsibility of school authorities is to eliminate invidious racial distinctions in those respects.”
Id. at 2. The Court further elaborated, holding that methods such as the variation of attendance
zones and the use of public transportation should never be altered or used to further the practice
of segregation, but could be used to correct racial imbalances that existed within the school
district. Id. at 3. The Court‟s holding that mandatory busing was an acceptable method to
promote integration would later prove to be very influential in Kalamazoo‟s proposed
desegregation plan for its public school district.
The Court furthered strengthened its desegregation policies in the case of Keyes v. School
District No. 1, Denver, CO, 413 U.S. 189 (1973). Keyes was one of the first examples of a
school district in a northern state, which had never operated under a constitutional or statutory
segregation policy, was nonetheless found guilty of carrying out a “systematic program of
segregation.” Id. at 201. The Court held that if a school board intends to create racially
segregated schools, it is the same thing as state mandated segregation. Id. at 203. This holding
established that proof of intentional school district behavior could be used to establish a prima
facie case of de facto segregation, thus placing all school board policy and decision making
under a heavier amount of scrutiny.
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Kalamazoo in the Late 60’s and Early 70’s
As was the case in cities all over the country, the late 60‟s were a time of civil unrest in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. According to a 1977 Commission on Civil Rights report, during the
period of 1967-1971 the following racially motivated incidents occurred in the Kalamazoo
Public School District: a 1968 decision to close a high school for 10 days due to fighting on
school grounds; a 1970 boycott on Kalamazoo Central high school by African American students
based on accusations of institutional racism; and one junior high school principal stating that “at
one point as many as 20 race related fights per day” were occurring at his school, which was
40% minority at that time. (Buggs, 1977).
In 1967, eleven years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, state officials in
Michigan began to press all school districts to work on plans to develop their schools racially.
(Miller-Adams, at 47). In 1968, Kalamazoo called upon a committee of citizens to start working
on their plan for greater racial integration among the schools in their district. Id. The committee
was chaired by the district‟s Superintendent, John Cochrane, and included other school
administrators. (Buggs, 1977). Kalamazoo„s school district was highly segregated at that time,
as evidenced by the following statistics…
1. Of the district's two public high schools, Kalamazoo Central and Kalamazoo Loy
Norrix, 16.9% of Central‟s student population was African American as opposed to
1.6% at Loy Norrix. (Houghton, 2007).
2. The African American student population at Kalamazoo Central constituted 93% of
all African American high school students attending Kalamazoo public schools at the
time. (Miller-Adams, at 46).
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3. Kalamazoo Loy Norrix was the newer of the two schools, and was built on the very
edge of the school district, in an area with virtually no African American population.
(Miller-Adams, at 47).
4. Both high schools were available to anyone in the district, but students had to provide
their own transportation. Id.
The committee released their preliminary desegregation plan in late 1969, which
suggested several methods to desegregate the Kalamazoo School District. (Buggs, 1977). The
plan included the gradual hiring of more African American professionals, the reorganization of
the district‟s attendance zones, and mandatory busing to ensure integration. (Miller-Adams, at
47). On May 7, 1941, the Kalamazoo Board of Education adopted this plan after a 4-3 vote, and
all parties involved agreed that if the plan was properly implemented it would achieve its desired
result of racial integration. Oliver v. Kalamazoo Bd. of Ed., 346 F.Supp. 766, 771 (Mich. Dist.
1972). This plan was subsequently referred to by the Court as the “May 7th” Proposal. Id.
Unfortunately, the plan to adopt the proposal resulted in outpourings of community
resentment and hostility, with one Board meeting in late May drawing 2,100 attendees. Id. At a
subsequent school board election held on June 14, 1971, two new Board members were elected.
Id. These two individuals had campaigned heavily on a platform that promised the nullification f
the May 7th Proposal. Id. Sure enough, at the very next meeting a motion was proposed and
passed to rescind the previous integration plan. Id. Superintendent Cochrane, who had been
responsible for developing the original busing plan for integration, was pressured into resigning
by the new Board. (Buggs, 1977). The new resolution of the Board called for a “Voluntary
Open-Enrollment Plan”. In August of 1971, the National Association for the Advancement of
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Colored People (NAACP) filed suit to enjoin the new integration plan and enforce the original
May 7th Proposal. (Miller-Adams, 48)
Oliver v. Kalamazoo Board of Education
`In 1971, Federal District Court Judge Noel P. Fox, Jr. found the Kalamazoo schools to
be unlawfully segregated and issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Kalamazoo School
Board to proceed with the original desegregation plan in September of 1971. Oliver v.
Kalamazoo, 346 F.Supp. 766 (1972). The judge would later modify the injunction to restrain the
Kalamazoo Board from dismissing all non-tenured teachers, as within their ranks were roughly
one half of all the black teaching staff in the district. Id. at 782-783. While the Board agreed to
fight the injunction, all the way through appeals if necessary, they still advised parents in the
district to obey the law and cooperate with desegregation. (Buggs, 1977). Therefore, the
desegregation of the Kalamazoo public schools officially began in the fall of 1971. Id.
In the subsequent trial on the full merits of the Plaintiff NAACP‟s claims, Judge Fox
once again found in favor of the Plaintiffs and ruled that the actions of the Kalamazoo Board of
Education constituted de jure segregation. Oliver v. Kalamazoo Board of Education, 368
F.Supp. 143, 171 (Mich.Dist.Ct. 1973). The Court first established the “uncontroverted fact”
that Kalamazoo‟s public schools were unconstitutionally segregated, defined in the terms of
disproportionate racial concentration. Id. at 153. The Court then looked at the evolving pattern
of the Board‟s policies, noting that each school board decision taken separately may not be
enough to show an intention of segregation, but taken together they may show that a purposeful
pattern of discrimination existed. Id. at 163. After a thorough overview of the Board‟s historical
decisions regarding issues such as attendance zones, new school locations, real estate
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developments, past hiring practices and busing/transportation, the Court found enough evidence
to classify the Board‟s actions as de jure segregation. Id. at 153-181.
Further, the Court concluded that both the state of Michigan and the Kalamazoo Public
School District intended that the original proposal should an implementation of the Fourteenth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Id. at 195. The Court based this assumption on the fact
that both the state and the Board used very specific wording in their instructions, and the purpose
of their requests was to implement methods to ensure desegregation. Id. By subsequently
rescinding the original proposal in favor of a “voluntary open enrollment plan”, the Board was in
fact revoking the broader underlying policy of school desegregation. Id. at 196. Therefore, the
actions of the Board in this matter were “repugnant” to the Fourteenth Amendment of the
Constitution and constituted de jure segregation. Id. at 196. The Court ordered that the
Kalamazoo Board of Education adopt the original “May 7” integration proposal permanently. Id.
at 205.
As promised, the Kalamazoo Board of Education appealed this decision to the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals. (Buggs, 1977). In 1974, he appellate court affirmed the decision of the
Federal District Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the matter in 1975. Id.
The Positive Effect of the Desegregation Proposal
Beginning in the fall of 1971, the court ordered implementation of the “May 7 Proposal”
achieved substantially positive results in regards to the racial make up of Kalamazoo‟s public
schools. Id. These results were documented by the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights in a report
they compiled in 1977. The Commission had chosen Kalamazoo as one of 29 cities that it was
studying around the country that had experience with desegregation. Id. By 1976, five years
after the desegregation plan was ordered to begin, the two high schools had been balanced
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racially, with a minority population of 25% at Kalamazoo Central and 22% at Loy Norrix. Id.
The percentage of minority teachers rose from 7 to 12 percent by 1976, and had increased to
17.3% by 2007. Id.
The Commission also found that there had been a rapid decrease in the amount of
interracial violence among the students in the years following the implementation of the
proposal. Id. As one principal put it when interviewed, before elementary school desegregation,
children were entering higher and higher levels of education unaware of other races, and this led
to trouble. Id. “Now, with every incoming class there is less and less tension between blacks
and whites, since each preceding class has been in a desegregated classroom for a longer time
than the preceding class.” Id.
Finally, while student achievement scores initially declined during the first year of
desegregation, (1971), they began to rise consistently from 1972 to 1976. Id. While minority
students were still averaging scores below the national average, they were less so than
previously. Id. This reflected the general theory supporting desegregation and diverse
classrooms in that while it can be initially difficult for children to adapt, that difficulty can be
overcome given effective additional services and programs. Id.
The Consequences of the Desegregation Proposal
The purpose of the May 7th Proposal was to erase desegregation and promote racial
balance in the Kalamazoo Public School District, and in that regard it would appear that it was a
huge success. However, not all side effects of the proposal were positive for Kalamazoo.
One noted negative aspect of desegregation was that some racial isolation continued,
particularly due to the difficulty of student participation in extra-curricular activities such as
Scouting that were not included in the mandatory busing/transportation changes. (Buggs, 1977).
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Also, an abnormally high percentage of the disciplinary suspensions occurring at the high
schools involved minority students, and reports suggested that de-segregation related teacher
training came too late when it did not start until after desegregation had already begun. Id.
The largest measurable consequence to the city of Kalamazoo as a result of desegregation
was the rapid decrease in white student enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools, otherwise
referred to as “white flight.” The 1977 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report stated that from
1968-70, the years before desegregation when racial tension was high due to the Civil Rights
Movement, white enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools declined 8.5%. Id. From 1971-73,
during the first two years of desegregation, white enrollment fell 15%. Id. Finally, by 1976 five
largely white schools were forced to close due to a rapid decline in enrollment (Miller-Adams, at
48).
While the decrease in white student enrollment slowed over time as people adjusted to
desegregation, the long term effects can still be seen today. Id. In 1970, 14,285 white students
were enrolled in Kalamazoo Public Schools. Id. at 50. By the year 2000, that number had
dropped to 4,133. Id. It would not be entirely accurate to claim that desegregation was the sole
reason for this decrease in enrollment, as District enrollment as a whole declined over that time
period. Id. A large factor in this was the “baby boom” era that had inflated the number of school
age children throughout the nation came to an end. Id. However, other statistics suggest that
white flight from the urban core of the city was a contributing factor. Id. Specifically, the fact
that the population of the city of Kalamazoo declined by 15 percent from 1970 to 2005, while the
population of Kalamazoo County rose by 5 percent during that same period. Id. In other words,
whether people were moving into Kalamazoo County or choosing to remain, they were
increasingly making the decision to avoid moving to the city and its school district. Id.
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Due to dropping enrollment numbers, school funding began to drop as well. Id. Finances
especially suffered after the 1994 passage of Proposal A, which basically limited all of the
Kalamazoo Public School District‟s funding to the state‟s foundation grant, which is directly
based on enrollment numbers. Id. From 1999 to 2005, $19 million was cut from the school
budget, causing the closing of several school buildings, program and position cuts and the partial
privatization of custodial and grounds services. Id.
The Kalamazoo Promise
Whatever the reason for the drain on enrollment in the Kalamazoo Public School District,
by 2005 it was clear that they were hurting, with no clear solution available. Luckily, in 2005,
they received a gift that almost seemed impossible in its generosity. An anonymous group of
donors created a scholarship program that is commonly referred to as “The Kalamazoo Promise”.
The terms of the scholarship are simple, and were summed up by the Kalamazoo School
District‟s Superintendent at the programs unveiling on November 15, 2005. Id. at 1. “It‟s a very
simple concept. Go to school at Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS), graduate from KPS, and in
your hands will be a scholarship for tuition plus fees [based on] the number of years you have
gone to KPS.” Id. The scholarship provides that a minimum of 65% of the full tuition cost for
any public university within the state of Michigan will be paid to any high school graduate of the
Kalamazoo Public School system who has been enrolled in a KPS for four years. Id. at 2. If you
enroll and stay in a KPS from the time you are in Kindergarten until high school graduation, you
will receive a full ride. Id. The program is set up to last indefinitely, with a pledge to provide 13
years‟ notice in the unlikely event that the scholarship has to be terminated. Id.
Not only has the scholarship boosted the morale of the students of Kalamazoo, but it also
has created tremendous opportunities for economic renewal within the city. Id. In the five years
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since the promise has been announced, enrollment in the school district has grown by 16%, test
scores have improved and a greater proportion of graduates are attending college. Id. at 143. In
2010 alone KPS enrollment grew by three percent (Unknown, 2010). Not only will an increased
enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools increase tax revenue across the board for the city
through an increase in population, it may have even greater economic benefits down the road due
to the potential for higher educated citizens entering the work force.
Did the Kalamazoo School District Make the Right Decision?
The future of the Kalamazoo Public School District appears to be bright, as the
Kalamazoo Promise creates hope for future expansion and opportunity. However, the sad truth is
that the Kalamazoo Promise is an extremely rare and unexpected event. The vast majority of
school districts in our country, particularly those located in urban areas, will not be able to count
on such miracles if they have experienced similar desegregation problems. So taking the
“Promise” out of the equation, and presuming that the District was not ordered to act by the
courts, did the Kalamazoo Public School District do a good job of handling the desegregation of
their public schools?
On the one hand, the District had an obligation to provide the children in their district
with as “perfect” of an educational environment as possible. As stated earlier, this could include
not only diverse classrooms, but also smaller classrooms and tighter teacher to student ratios. In
order to create these two elements, any school district will normally need more funding. But the
actions of the School Board to desegregate the schools contributed to lessening the amount of
available school funding. The use of mandatory busing to provide equal access to schools
doubled the District‟s spending on transportation, increasing it to 3.3 percent of the overall
budget (Buggs, 1977). While that number may not appear to be overly large, keep in mind that
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most school districts operate on an extremely tight budget, and any mandatory increase in
spending is going to cause cuts in other areas.
Further, while the decrease in overall enrollment in the public school district cannot
solely be blamed on desegregation and “white flight”, they clearly were contributing factors.
Decreases in enrollment led to decreases in funding for the public school district, which led to
more cuts in educational programs and opportunities for the students who remained enrolled. By
acting to insure diverse and equal educational opportunities for its students, the District indirectly
hindered its ability to benefit its students in other ways.
Despite all the foreseeable consequences of Kalamazoo Public School District‟s
decisions, they were necessary and proper based on the rights that our country‟s children are
entitled to. If every tough decision relating to Civil Rights and Equal Protection were allowed to
be influenced by the strong probability of public backlash and short term harm, it seems unlikely
that segregation would have been eliminated in the first place. While smaller classrooms and
qualified faculty provide a substantial benefit to students, if they come at the sacrifice of
educational opportunities for others then they are not worth it. Further, desegregation in
Kalamazoo resulted in higher test scores over time, showing that children truly did benefit from
learning in a diverse and equal environment. The principle of “separate but equal” was rejected
with good reason, as to allow for segregation in any form is inherently disadvantageous to certain
individuals. And if we place any student in our schools at a disadvantage, we are only harming
ourselves as children in school today will have to lead our country in the future. Kalamazoo‟s
desegregation plan was a constitutionally necessary and appropriate way to ensure equal
educational opportunities for all its students, despite the consequences.
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Bibliography
Works Cited
Buggs, John A. Staff Report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. School
Desegregation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. [Kalamazoo, Mich.:] U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights, Midwestern Regional Office. Web. April, 1977.
<http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12d454.pdf>
Kaufman, Michael, Sherelyn Kaufman. Education, Law, Policy and Practice: Cases and
Materials. New York: Aspen Publishers, 2009.
Houghton, Lynn. “Kalamazoo Central High School.” Kalamazoo Public Library,
http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/education/kalamazoo-central.aspx. 1 Dec. 2007.
Miller-Adams, Michelle. The Power of a Promise: Education and Economic Renewal in
Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2009.
Unknown. “The Good of The Promise Extends far Beyond Kalamazoo.” Kalamazoo Gazette
Editorial Board, 2010. http://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf
/2010/10/editorial_ the_good_of_the_prom.html. 12 Oct. 2010.
Cases Cited
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, CO, 413 U.S. 189 (1973).
Oliver v. Kalamazoo Board of Education, 346 F.Supp. 766 (Mich.Dist.Ct. 1972).
- (Preliminary Injunction)
Oliver v. Kalamazoo Board of Education, 368 F.Supp. 143 (Mich.Dist.Ct. 1973).
- (Ruling of the case on the merits)
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971).
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